The African American community in Prince George’s is a powerful one, making waves in the region, the country, and the world. Black History Month is an opportunity to honor that history and use those lessons to look toward the future. In Prince George’s, you can see sites that show the group’s contributions to flight, sport, and community building, as well as spaces that demonstrate the region’s history of enslavement and forced labor.

 

Dive into the history of African Americans in Prince George’s at these eight sites:

 

  1. Stop by Blacksox Park in Bowie, which was once home to two local African-American sandlot baseball teams. The Mitchellville Tigers and the Washington Blacksox both played at the 70-acre park, competing against the Brentwood Flashes, Laurel All-Stars, Oxon Hill Aztecs, Glenarden Braves, and Homestead Grays. 

 

  1. Visit Bowie’s Northampton Plantation and Slave Quarters, now a National Park Service National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom site. The plantation was owned by the Sprigg family from 1800 to 1836, and numerous enslaved people escaped from the site. Now, you can see the rebuilt foundations of two slave quarters, along with interpretive signs that detail the lives of the enslaved African Americans who lived there. 

 

  1. Head to the Charles Duckett Log Cabin in Upper Marlboro. The cabin is a rare chestnut log tenant farmhouse, believed to have been built by Duckett, a formerly enslaved person and landsman in the Union Navy during the Civil War. The Patuxent Rural Life Museums complex, which is home to the cabin, also includes the Duvall Tool Museum, a tobacco museum, and a blacksmith shop.

 

  1. At the Marietta Historic Site & Museum in Glenn Dale, you’ll step foot on the site of the former home and tobacco plantation of Gabriel Duvall. Duvall was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and enslaver, and the space is a testament to the individuals enslaved by generations of Duvall’s family. Researchers developed a custom database to provide details of these enslaved individuals, and it's available at the museum’s research library.

 

  1. Walk through the Cherry Hill Cemetery in Riverdale. This African-American family burial ground was established on Josiah Adams's family farm in 1884, and it’s the only intact one in the area. Search for the graves marked by local ironstone and plants.

 

  1. See the spot where the first African-American Civil Air Patrol Squadron was formed. The Columbia Air Center in Upper Marlboro was licensed in 1941 as the first African-American-owned and operated airfield in Maryland, and perhaps in the nation. John W. Greene, a pioneer black aviator, was critical in creating the airfield, which the U.S. Navy also used during World War II.

 

  1. Step into the long history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church at the Mount Nebo A.M.E. Church & Cemetery in Upper Marlboro. The chapel was first built in 1877 and then replaced in 1925, eventually becoming a central space for the local black community.

 

  1. Tour the Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm, which were once home to the Berry Farm. There, enslaved people were forced into back-breaking labor to cultivate the crops. According to the records, at least one person escaped from the farm, and the owner placed advertisements to attempt to find that person. 



Shift from the past to the present at these Black-owned businesses in Prince George’s.